Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-10-30
HERALD.
PUMPING RACES.
The Exciting sport OF the 80
..,.u Of English Universisies.

H.. ,hase curious races orlginaleu
~ ~" sat know for certain, pas u1'i
,l;tions have been handea Gown TO Us ,
TO the effect that all the po;.,s-,ln
those days they were regular Noah's
arts-used to be shut up together i'll a
iock with the coxswain OF each stand
;o~;n tbe bows armed with boathook.
When the locks were opened ea"I1
coxwain used do his best, aided by
his men, to extricate ms boat from
the throng. This uone, he would run
all down the, poat, take his seat in
the ster..l and urge his crew
for tie race which followed. The
ryolt. l take it, depended more on
,uck than on merit. Announcer accoua'
ralates how crew would go down to
practice, and how the coXwain, on
seeing a rival crew, would blow morn
as signal of defiance, and race
would promptly begin, the hinonsost
crew trying to touch the leaders
However, it is not difficult to under
stand how humping races, after tne
present fashion, must have peen
radually organized out OF tne
chaos to which the traditlonai
accounts refer. The river was
too narrow TO admit OF the crews
rowing abreast. Accordinglya scheme
was devised by which the poals
started in q long line, one behind tne
other at fixed intervals (175 feet 81
now the distancel, and raced Tor a
certain number OF nights, 1t being ar
ranged that if one boat bumped an
other they should exchange places IN
the following night, and so on. we
at Cambridge have made changes IN
.o,,r system OF races quite lately, the
resulf Of which has been entirely TO
separate the Lent boats IRON those
that row in the. May term, giving 10
every college the right to be repre-
sented by at least one boat IN potn
sots nj races. The enthusiasm de-
voted to these races is extraofulhdIy y
and toan outsider almost inexpllcapie.
R,,t he must remember that IL Is hot
mere winning or loosing OF race tnat
;s involved. There is something pc
yond that in humping race when
make it. think, the highest form OF
manlv excitement and emulation.
The reward of victory is immediate
and tangible, your crew rises pace
in tbe rowing scale, and is inspired Tor
fresh triumphs on succeeding nights.
Bnt to be bumped is literally to be
DEGRADED; it is defeat accompanied
Inv loss of place, and the consequences
remain for the following year. !he
crew who fall in a humping race feel
NOT only that they are falling away
from the traditions and place be-
aueathed to them, but that their 1ali-
ure must injuriously affect their sue
cessors. In no athletic exercise, there,
fore, is victory so ardently pursued
and defeat SO strenuOusly avoid
ed as in the college humping
races: nowhere else certainly is the
actual success SO intoxicating, no.
where else is it secured amid equal
demonstrations Of enthusiasm. 1t
stirs the blood to row in q good eight,
to feel the boat springing from each
stroke like living thing, to hear the
shouts of your partisans, to become
conscious that your crowd is blending
INTO that which is running
with the boat in front, to
feel by the dancing OF your ship that
vou are actually in their very wash,
and then, after the momentary scrani.
HE of the bump, TO exchange delighted
GREETINGS with those on the bank,
while the club flag is unfurled and
cheer after cheer proclaims the vic
tory. These, indeed, are triurnphs
that are never forgotten and make up
simply for weeks of anxiety and toll,
Tor much self-denial and many dis
comforts to
.The eight poor souls whose meat is
Hard steak and harder lent
end even 10 the coxswain who has
prohahly been made TO endure much
I'll temper and abuse. But TO this pic
rure there Is OF course reverse in the
unha.piness OF those who are bumped.
Those, too, who escape by the skin OF
flseir teeth have rather hard time.
They have to brace themselves night
after night to the task OF rowing over
the course without approaching the
1reeefiing crew, while eight fiends
with IN apparently inexhaustible sup
a,Iy of strength and wind drive the fol-
lowing boat inch by inch to their
stern. tForrnlghtly Review.